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CPU for an office PC

Peerzy

Peerzy

Peerzy

Soldato
Joined
9 Nov 2008
Posts
7,122
Hello all,

I'm looking to build an office PC on a budget for a friend who works from home. No gaming, no overclocking, no video / picture editing so the PC will just be used for MS Office 2016, email and internet.

The rest of the specs will be;

8GB DDR4 RAM
120GB SSD
Win 10

I'd normally go for an Intel i3 CPU (7100 or 8100) but seeing as this is on a budget and the motherboards for the 8100 seem a bit expensive I'd thought I'd ask about what AMD has to offer.

7100 + motherboard = £140-£150~
8100 + motherboard = £160-£170~

What is the equivalent AMD CPU performance wise? The PC will need to last 5 years but only ever doing basic tasks.
 
Oh that's good, the build can be anytime in the next 2 months.

Performance wise is the 2200G better than the i3 8100?

What does having a 512 shader Vega IGP actually mean? Does it compare with the Intel HD inbuilt graphics so suitable for office based use?
 
Last edited:
StarShock said:
in case you've not seen, the reviews have started pouring in.

https://forums.overclockers.co.uk/threads/ocuk-ryzen-apu-review-thread.18811382/
Click to expand...

Thanks - I've had a read through a few of them and I'm unsure. In the gaming and video intensive tests the Ryzen 2200G seems to completely wipe the floor with an i3-8100. However my build is going to be just used as an office and web browsing machine where the AMD seems to not perform as well as an i3-7100 which seems disappointing. Am I missing something or is Intel still king for what I'm after?
 
The G4560 brings the whole cost down, I can get the CPU, motherboard, 8GB RAM and a 120GB SSD for < £250 which seems like good value when the equivalent AMD Ryzen 2200G / i3-8100 is a lot more (£75 for AMD, £100 for Intel).

For web browsing and basic office tasks I think the £100 is better saved in this situation?
 
Was looking through various online shops;

£199 delivered
Intel G4560
MSI Intel B250M PRO-VDH LGA 1151 M-ATX
120GB SSD (WD Green)
8GB DDR4 2133MHz RAM (Kingston Value)

I've ignored case, PSU, OS, Keyboard and mouse and optical drive as that will be the same regardless of platform.

Is there a decent 2200G build I could do for £250 or less?

I do prefer the idea of obviously using newer technologies and understand longer support. Equally the PC will be used for 5 years, never upgraded and never changed. After 5 years it'll likely be stripped for parts and then a replacement purchased.
 
The parts were from lots of different companies - but all reputable and ones commonly used.

I'll leave the final decision with my friend as it's his money.
 
Having spent some time looking around I think I've settled on the following;

AMD Ryzen 3 2200G CPU
Gigabyte A320M-HD2 Motherboard
Crucial 8GB 2400MHz DDR4 RAM
120GB Kingston A400 SSD

That comes in at £243 inc VAT and delivery and seems like a perfectly acceptable office based build for the next 5 years. My one concern is I've read a lot about needing to flash the BIOS on motherboards before they'll work for the new Ryzen CPUs - is this the case for the motherboard I've picked and if so how can I do this without another working CPU?
 
Yup - think I'm set on the 2200G, 120GB SSD and 8GB DDR4 RAM. Just need to settle on a motherboard.

The one I'd originally picked seemed nice due to HDMI, DVI, VGA (which are always useful) and USB3.1 Gen2. The ASRock AB350M loses the USB3.1 Gen2 and is about £10 more expensive (but then doesn't require a BIOS flash by the looks of things).

Edit: Actually, I can't tell if the ASRock AB350M will work with the CPU without being flashed.
 
We've basically decided on a Ryzen 2200G but I'm unable to find anything which tells me which motherboard will work out the box. I'm not too keen on relying on the AMD loan kit deal as they are wanting screenshots of you speaking with the retailed about their offers of BIOS updates. It sounds like I could buy all the kit and spend days emailing, waiting for the post etc...

It's a shame but I guess if we wait a few weeks the motherboards should all ship with the latest BIOS?
 
NewGamer11 said:
When you say 'just Office 2016' is he only writing word documents or is he having to analyse spreadsheets with 100,000+ rows?
Click to expand...

Very basic stuff, word documents, spreadsheets with 100 rows etc.....

The PC needs to be feel fast and snappy and last 5 years. I think £250 for the spec is reasonable and he's happy with it and the price. If there was less confusion about BIOS updates for Ryzen I'd have ordered already I think.
 
CAT-THE-FIFTH said:
I told you the Gigabyte AB350M Gaming 3 does appear to work as Beren got one and it booted fine although he is located in NZ.

Also,AMD will send you an A6 9500 for free to boot the system with:

https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/379687711763595285/416239547647655938/IMG_20180222_135458.png

That is someone on Hexus(located in the UK) who applied for one. Once you flashed the BIOS they will pay for the postage to send it back.
Click to expand...

The AB350M takes us over budget and offers features he'll never use. I'm not sure someone getting one in NZ with the correct BIOS is an indication that UK stock will have the new BIOS.

The AMD boot kit seems to be free but only after you've proven you've contacted the retailed and they haven't offered anything to resolve the issue. It's not ideal and will be a bit of a pain to do (rather than just building the PC in about 20 minutes and off we go).

Ideally we want an A320 motherboard with the correct BIOS.
 
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